When the Joker met Mary Vengeance
by Alice Vanity
Summary: Lauren Mary is having an experiment that's gonna change her life. Mary finds herself with newfound powers and double identity that are allowing her to associate with Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime. What happens when the two collide?


**Prolog; Current Reality**

The morning sunrays lighted the inside of the beautiful Vingen villa. Lauren was rolling over in her bed, the rays striking and warming her face. She blinked and opened her eyes, pressing her palms against her eyes and then stretching in her bed.

Lauren turned her head towards the digital clock that was lying on her new cabinet. Daddy finally got the promotion and now that he's the new commissioner of Gotham's special crime unit – the whole family earns. Lauren's father, Ronald Vingen, has given her mother, Susan, a beautiful necklace. He also bought a new play station for Lauren's younger brother – Jonathan.

New house, new furniture, new position, it felt slightly weird to realize that she had just moved to the most elite area of Gotham. She remembered living in a poor neighborhood, homeless people wandering around the darkened streets. Those streets were scattered with evil men. All the villains of Gotham were known to have business around and that was the place to find them. And still, her mother, Susan, was a famous and very successful psychiatrist at Arkham prison, and her father – Ronald, was a devoted police officer and a true hunter of justice. Both of them, very intelligent and well educated people, made their dream come true. They started a new family, they started a life, even though that neighborhood was not the perfect place to raise children in.

Those thoughts kept running through her mind as her mother's firm voice made her snap out of daydreaming. "Lauren Mary Vingen!" her mother called out and opened her bedroom door. Lauren's eyes widened as she saw the hour: 9 AM.

"Damn it." Lauren cursed silently and laid her head back on the pillow, acting as if she was sleepy and weak. "What's going on young lady? You're already late!" Her mother stood next to her bed and gazed upon her with those wise eyes.

"I'm sorry mom, I'm not feeling too good today…" Lauren mumbled. Her mother nodded and bit her lower lip. "Its your 3rd time this week, just so you know!" Susan recalled and went down the stairs. Lauren stumbled into the corridor and down the stairs, following her mother. "Why aren't you at work anyway?" Lauren asked suspiciously, watching her mother crawling on the living room floor, seeking for something under the sofa. "When I got into my office I remembered that I forgot a very important file at home, I can't seem to find it." Susan said, her voice trembling as she moves around the living room.

Lauren opened the fridge and made herself a cup of coffee. "Hey mom, got any new cases at work?" she asked, interested. Her mother raised her head and turned to look at Lauren. "We're still working on that schizophrenic maniac that slaughtered a women and her child." Her mother answered and disappeared up the stairs. She came back, waving at Lauren with the folder. "Found it, now I'm off…" her mother said, hurrying to grab her car keys. "Hey mom, can I join you at work today?" Lauren asked hesitantly.

"But I thought you were sick…" Her mother gave her a cunning smile. "You always do that!" her mother snapped. "But mom…" Lauren started off, nagging. "The answer is no." her mother informed and stormed out of the house. Lauren finished her coffee and went down to the basement, her favorite place in the whole house – the laboratory.

Her mother used it almost every day. Except having a successful career as a psychiatric, her mother was also a chemist. Her major classes in high school were psychology and chemistry, and she kept studying these materials even after high school. Lauren chose the same classes as her mother when she went to high school, she thought it was fascinating and was always into it ever since she was a kid.

All those times when nobody was home, Lauren took advantage of the situation and went down the stairs into the lab, she used to mix chemicals and fluids to see what happens, and was actually standing on the edge of a breakthrough. It all started when she was thinking to herself what would happen if a person was able to maximize his physical strength.

Earlier this week, a shipment of highly dangerous chemicals has arrived into their house. Her mother stashed them in a place which she thought was secretive, but nothing could hide from Lauren's curious eyes, and she found the shipment that very day, when she was home alone.

Lauren swiftly passed her hand underneath the dusty carpet and snatched the key. She hurried towards the last drawer that was locked. She put the key to the keyhole and opened the drawer. Lauren took out the brown box that was inside, 40 centimeters width and about 100 centimeters deep.

She put it on the floor and opened it carefully. A sigh of relief slipped between her lips as she looked inside. A few plastic bottles were lying there, filled with colorful fluids. The colors burned in her eyes with excitement, she couldn't wait to start mixing them up and see what happens. On the bottles were glued white stickers with signs of warning and a skull, and underneath it in big red letters was written "Highly Dangerous".

Lauren diverted her look over the warnings and grabbed the bottles. She opened one of them and poured a few drops of the red liquid into an empty glass tube. She poured almost a spoon of Glycerin from the bottle that was on the shelve and held the bottle with the yellow liquid in her left hand, while the right one added Glycerin. She read the sticker on the bottle she was holding in her left hand. "Contains high dosage of ASA and antibiotics, mixing with other chemicals is not recommended."

Lauren took a deep breath and sucked into the Burette a few drops of the yellow fluid. So far…nothing happens. She released a breath that she was holding inside and poured one drop from the Burette into the glass tube. The yellow drop made a single sound and stirred inside the still red liquid. Lauren added another drop, and when she saw that nothing happened, she added another drop.

The liquid inside the glass tube was now dark orange. Lauren put the bottles that she had used in their place and opened the upper closet that was attached to the wall to her right. She knew exactly what she was looking for. That one single plastic bottle, seems like water but was actually mixed up with narcotics.

She poured everything into one big breakable glass and the mixture started to babble. Lauren bit her lip, now knowing what is gonna happen. Suddenly big bubbles started to come up on the surface. Lauren bent over to take a closer look and inhaled the fumes that were coming up and filling the room. She felt her nostrils going wider and a foreign scent doing his way up her nose, into her head. She felt dizzy and weak, and the last thing she heard was the sound of her own body hitting the ground as she collapsed to the floor.

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Well...this is just the beginning, but...let me know what do you think.

_Alice_


End file.
